On this Second Sunday of Advent we get an inkling of the elusive “here, but not yet” status of the Church as the Kingdom of God.

In the First Reading the prophet Isaiah (11:1-10) is speaking to the Israelites who are being besieged by enemy nations much too strong for them to withstand. The nation is crumbling and the Davidic monarchy, the line of the great King David, has ceased to rule. It has been reduced to “a stump of Jesse,” named for the father of David.

However, Isaiah promises that a “shoot shall sprout from the stump of Jesse,” a new king shall come from the line of David. This king will come to rescue and restore the nation of Israel, those who are poor and afflicted, by “striking the ruthless” and “slaying the wicked.” The result will be the kingdom intended by God where justice and peace shall flourish, where “the wolf shall be a guest of the lamb, and the leopard shall lie down with the kid.”

In the Gospel from Matthew (3:1-12) we hear John the Baptist also speaking of the awaited messiah of the line of David. Like Isaiah, John the Baptist depicts this king as a mighty warrior who will defeat the unfaithful enemies of God as “chaff burned with unquenchable fire,” while the faithful remnant is “gathered like wheat into his barn.”

Christians take the words of both Isaiah and John the Baptist to indicate the messiahship of Christ, the one whom Gentiles have sought out as foretold by Isaiah since the days of his ministry, death, and resurrection.

Skeptics have questioned: if Jesus is the long-awaited messiah from the line of David who has ushered in the Kingdom of God, why then is there so much violence in the world, instead of the peace promised by Isaiah? Why does evil still exist if Jesus was the one who vanquished the enemies of God as announced by John the Baptist?

The answer lies in the concept known as the “here, but not yet” Kingdom of God, a belief established by the evangelists who wrote of the life of Jesus and recorded his promise to return one day. It is obviously a less than ideal state of the world, where evil and violence persist. But it is the time, which is represented by Advent, when we await the second coming of our Lord and Savior. It is the period in which are now living as we strive to bring the good news of the Gospel throughout the world.

In todays secular society of relativism and individualism, where many have fallen away from the church while others ignore its existence, this may seem like a daunting task. But we need not be discouraged for Jesus has left us an advocate and helper, the Holy Spirit who guides us in carrying on the task entrusted to the disciples.

In the process of guiding us as the people of God, the Holy Spirit, by the grace we receive through the sacraments, offers us many gifts. They are listed by Isaiah in his passage from today: wisdom, understanding, counsel, strength, knowledge, piety, and fear of the Lord. With these gifts we are equipped with all that is needed to be the Church, the “here, but not yet” kingdom of God performing the works of Christ as we await his return.